Stouts Hill Prep school as it appears in the 1969 prospectus - Credit:
Jonathan Palfrey

The building dates from 1743 and was a prep school from 1935 to 1979. Mark Phillips, the former husband of Anne, the Princess Royal, was also a pupil here. A blogspot for old pupils as well as a number of photographs may be found here. Images of the property in its current incarnation as a holiday resort may be found here.

Founded in 1584, Uppingham counts amongst its alumni Mark Haddon, author of The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-time; Harry Judd, musician and member of McFly; and Johnny Vaughan, the British television presenter. Perhaps Fry left behind a residual spirit of rebellion, which spilt out over the pages of the national newspapers recently (read here).

Now known as HM Prison Ashfield, the present buildings were opened in 1999, when it became the first private prison to house young offenders. It is now a prison for remand and sentenced males aged between fifteen and eighteen. It developed something of a poor reputation following reports of riots and bad management, although the prison has since cleaned up its act. Prisoners now receive at least 25 hours of education each week and are permitted access to its library and gym.

Laurie Lee (1914 to 1997) was a writer and poet who rose to prominence with his exquisitely lyrical trilogy of autobiographical works, Cider with Rosie (1959), As I Walked Out One Midsummer’s Morning (1969) and A Moment of War (1991). The first describes a pastoral, working class childhood, the second his wanderings across Spain as a young man, and the third his experiences of fighting for the Republican cause during the Spanish Civil War.